DTM Race Oschersleben 1: Preining wins, Thiim loses DTM lead

– Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) won Saturday’s DTM race in Oschersleben, securing his second win of the season. The 2023 DTM champion started from pole position and, adjusted for pit stops, never relinquished the lead over the entire race distance.

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“Perfect day overall, started from pole, of course, and then led the entire race. So, it was awesome,” Preining said happily to ran.de. “The car was really perfect from the very first lap in practice, and strategy, pit stop, everything just came together today. And I felt comfortable from the start, so a huge thank you to the team, and I naturally hope we can build on this.”

After 40 laps, the “Grello” driver finished with a lead of 1.601 seconds over Luca Engstler (Abt-Lamborghini). Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) finished third. Fourth place went to his brand colleague Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes), who narrowly held off Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) in the final phase.

Pit stop brings the decision: Winward fumbles

Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) finished sixth, while Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) secured seventh place, making a strong comeback after his serious accident at the Norisring. Timo Glock (Dörr-McLaren) was pleased with eighth place after a solid race. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) and Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche) completed the top 10. (to race results)

Preining won the start from pole position, with Engel decisively moving past Engstler in the first corner. In the initial laps, Preining initially pulled away from his pursuers, but then Engel increased his pace and closed the gap to Preining.

The decision in the battle for victory came during the mandatory pit stop, which both Preining and Engel completed after lap 21. While Manthey quickly serviced Preining’s car, Engel’s left front wheel got stuck. Due to the slow pit stop, he lost second place to Engstler.

BoP trouble for Thiim: Norisring dominator is chanceless

Since Norisring dominator Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) could not get beyond twelfth position, partly due to the unfavorable BoP classification of his car and the success ballast after his victories in Nuremberg, Engel took the championship lead with third place.

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“Of course, second place was possible,” Engel lamented to ran.de about the botched pit stop. “We need to look, analyze what happened there. But it was a good race until the end, a good day, and many points,” he ultimately concluded positively.

The race ended early for Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren). On the first lap, he collided with Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) in Turn 3. Dörr was carried wide on the exit of the left-hand corner and touched Gounon’s car, which was forced onto the grass. A tire puncture, which knocked off parts of the vehicle, was the result. Dörr subsequently parked the car.

Maro Engel now in front: Three-way battle for the championship

The contact also had consequences for Gounon. The Mercedes driver went off track slightly several times during the following laps. After lap 27, he parked his car in the garage.

Marco Wittmann also had to retire his Schubert-BMW early due to a tire puncture. One minute before the pit stop window opened, the left front tire lost air. “We had a slow puncture. That went on for five laps now. We thought we could make it to the pit stop, but more and more air was escaping,” explained team boss Torsten Schubert to ran.de. Wittmann, who was slightly physically affected, did not continue the race.

Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT-Ford) could not build on his stellar performance from the Norisring. After a weak qualifying, he drove outside the points. In lap 18, the youngster then radioed: “Something’s burning in the cockpit” and subsequently headed to the pits, where he ended the race. After lap 17, Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) also retired, presumably due to a technical defect.

In the drivers’ standings, after nine of 16 season races, Engel now leads, as mentioned. With 125 points, he is six points ahead of Auer (119), who in turn has only a one-point lead over Thiim (118). Preining is in fourth place overall (98) after today’s victory, but is already 27 points behind the leader.

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